NFL Enlists GE, Under Armour in $60 Million Brain-Injury Study

National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell said the partnership is the latest effort from a league that is making head-injury prevention its top priority. Photographer: Christian Petersen/Getty Images

March 11 (Bloomberg) -- The National Football League,
General Electric Co. and Under Armour Inc. will join in a four-year, $60 million effort to develop imaging technology for
detecting, treating and preventing brain injuries.

GE, which makes medical equipment such as magnetic
resonance imaging systems along with aircraft engines and
household appliances, will spend $40 million building
specialized equipment for diagnosing head trauma, according to a
statement distributed at a New York news conference.

The NFL, GE and Under Armor, a maker of sports apparel,
also will spend $20 million to challenge researchers to develop
new ideas for helmets and other safety equipment.

“We’ve always believed that innovation is a way to solve
problems,” GE Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt said at
the news conference. “We’re going to bring the best of the best
to this effort.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the partnership is the
latest effort from a league that is making head-injury
prevention its top priority.

“The NFL has made tremendous progress in making our game
safer and more exciting,” Goodell said. “But we know we have
more work to do.”

Goodell said at the Super Bowl last month that the NFL will
place independent neurological consultants on the sidelines
during games, require three days of postseason physicals for
players and work to eliminate blows to the head and knees.

The NFL Players Association said last month it would spend
$100 million working with Harvard University on a decade-long
study of the long-term health of NFL players.

About 4,000 former NFL players have sued the league seeking
damages for head injuries they say were sustained on the field.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain disease caused by
repeated head hits, has been found in the autopsies of at least
three former NFL players who killed themselves, including 12-time Pro Bowl linebacker Junior Seau.